Short YYH side stories
by WhatWouldValeryDo
Summary: These are small stories from the character's point of view for the Last World series or parts that did not make it to the final published story or its prequels.
1. Kurama's struggle

**Hello lovely people.**

** In this section I will be uploading small pieces, mainly from the character's point of views for the 4 part story concerning Valery and Hiei. There will be several parts that were written out, scenes that I liked but did not make it into the actual story or side stories on how other characters were feeling while the entire plot was taking place.**

**Hope you enjoy Kurama's take on this - scene from Last World before the events described by Valery occurred. **

* * *

It's been a long day and I am tired of trying to figure out the moment she was brought inside my home and left to rest on my couch. But whatever actions I take my mind still pours itself in that very moment, in the lines filled with pain all across her face, in the dark veins tracing incomprehensible patterns on such an almost lifeless skin. I had been near my friend for many years and I was certain that I had figured out most of the secrets locked away in his expressions and glares, however that night he was as pale as a ghost, sweat sticking to the back of his neck and forehead. His eyes were wide but I couldn't read into them as he dropped her on the couch not so gracefully, like he was discarding a piece of meat that had been burdening him for so long. He didn't look at me at all, his eyes shifting to the wall and back to her, like trying to decide what was right. Anger? No, his jaw was lose, chest showing a regular and calm breath. Fear? But of what, what could have hindered him so greatly that he would wear such a lost expression?

However before making his decision final, the disgust and hate became crystal clear as his scarlet orbs burned bright, not blinking, covering her in an invisible aura of something horrific, something that only his mind could comprehend. It froze me to the core for a few seconds until his voice, low and dangerous, jolted me back to reality.

"Keep her alive."

Leaning against a wall, pushing my hair to hide her from my peripheral view I waited for him to talk and tell me in cryptic messages what was going on. However apart from barking an order in my house he said no more and left as quickly as he had arrived.

Breathing out a heavy sigh I finally looked at the queen of Demon World sleeping on the couch, or better yet passed out. She wasn't going to provide me with any answers, not in the state she was, breathing in short successions, her skin burning to the touch when I leaned in. Judging by the dark circles under her eyes, she had not slept in quite some time. A cape covered her body and once removed, dark veins danced on the surface of her skin, spreading like a disease but all having the same root, her heart.

This was far worse from how it started, never before had it been so visible. Never before had she fought to keep above the surface. But it was killing her, this power, this dark blood was finally leaving the mark of death.

She had lost weight from what I could gather when I changed her. Dried blood, scrapes and bruises were the only things relating the story of battles she had recently been in. She smelled of wet soil and smoke, signalling recent days were spent outside. Hand prints on her wrists pointed to a struggle, a hand smaller than mine and I tried that day and days after to not think of Hiei hurting her. But I know it wasn't the first time he decided that being rough would bring better results. And I was one of the few who knew this, living in a vicious triangle of whatever we were.

Drugs managed to ease the pain and the tightness in her body. Her eyes finally opened, weary and out of focus. When she spoke her voice came out strained, rough and dry asking me where he was. But I did not possess the answers she was looking for, however I wish I did.

I could have prevented the events that occurred after. I would have come up with a solution. I could have found a way to permanently dry the tears on her face instead of just caressing her cheeks. An antidote for the pain instead of forcing my lips on hers and the liquid down her throat.

Or maybe she would have hated me with the same passion she loved him. She would have surely snarled her teeth at me more, battle and claw her away until her last breath, her eyes hinting to that feral dark creature inside her. She would forget her humanity and blame me. Would end up not wishing to see my face.

If only I knew what Hiei was up to. But when I discovered the empty couch and not a hint of her scent in my home my blood ran cold. As if I knew. When the skies roared and threatened to destroy the world beneath it I was certain that she was gone.

But it's been a long day and I am tired of trying to figure out the moment she was brought inside my home. I need to now try and gather more information and bring back the queen of Demon World. But Spirit World needs to calm down. Gods need to settle but until that happens only one name is spoken and it's not hers.

They all want to know what the king did to his queen.

What did you do Hiei?


	2. Talk over drinks

**Hello 3**

**This time we see Kurama, Yusuke and Kuwabara having a talk while drinking and trying to figure out what plan will work best in order to bring back one of them.**

* * *

"He what?"

Yusuke's voice raised a few good decibels, bottom of his glass landing on the table with a loud clank. Kazuma jumped a little mildly shocked by the fact that the glass did not shatter on impact. Taking the beer to his lips he blinked a couple of times as Kurama sighed trying to keep the situation at bay as best as possible alongside is nerves. The information finally registered fully for Kazuma who had the exact reaction, beer hitting the table, the content this time overflowing.

Kurama got up just in time to avoid having his work pants soaked in beer while Yusuke appeared to be out of harm's way. A few minutes later with a clean and dry table, they all gathered closer, alcohol infused breaths mixing together in the air between them.

"So let's recap and make sure my dumb brain got it right. You mean to tell me Valery is gone, completely from this world and Hiei did this?" the twitch in his eye was obvious as he let go of the glass in his hand being certain that it would break on a second impact. Kurama just nodded closing his eyes.

"I bet you anything she will return and kick shorty's teeth in." the smile on Kazuma's face was short lived as Kurama looked at his friends leaning back and downing the entire content of his glass.

"She's been gone since late April." He spoke grimacing as the alcohol hit his stomach but did little to calm him down and wash away the bitterness of the words spoken before.

"Late April? We are in fucking June and you didn't bother telling us?" if he were facing someone else, Yusuke would have jumped over the table, taken the person in front of his face by the collar, shook them until dizzy, demanding answers. However that was not an action that could have been performed with Kurama, if he valued his life of course.

He didn't know if he imagined it due to the haze from the countless whisky glasses, but Kurama looked more pensive than usual, eyes focusing on too many scenarios, raw emotions burning visibly in his gaze.

"Is she dead?"

Kurama's chin lifted slightly, fingers tracing the glass rim, looking into Yusuke's eyes, seeing a partial reflection of him. Kazuma was the same. They didn't say it, but they didn't like it, losing a friend, no goodbye, no words, just nothing, but their reaction was the one expected, anger speaking louder than words in this case.

"We might as well consider it like that. She's in a place where we can't get to."

Kazuma smashed his fist against the table, glasses lifting slightly. His eyes were large, he was mad, jaw tight trying to keep at bay insults he wanted to address. Yusuke pat his back a couple of times and smiled.

"Well then we will find a way to get her back."

A ghost of a smile passed Kurama's lips, more out of curtesy than anything else. He had thought about all scenarios, went numerous times to Spirit World after the chaos started settling in and the Gods stopped trying to bring apart all worlds for a girl. In truth he was surprised they even involved themselves, majority hated Valery since she wasn't born one of them, but received the tittle later.

Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that a demon dared to take one of them away. No matter how you looked at it, no one liked demons. Their queen included. She hated them and was not afraid to show it. She married a demon, she lived in Demon World, did right by them and fought for their cause, but she despised them. It wasn't always like that, it grew steady and gradually.

"If she comes back, she will kill all demons because of what Hiei did. I am still piecing together information as Koenma is not very keen on sharing anything right now, but…"

"Fuck it!" Yusuke got up slamming a fist in his open palm "She won't kill anyone, get your head straight. You can bet your balls she will be angry, probably going to kick Hiei around but she won't kill demons because of this. I'll go talk to Koenma and then we'll arrange a meeting with her got it?"

This time Kurama smiled truly, maybe Yusuke's approach might not have be the best, but he saw him turn events around before with that piercing gaze and confident punk smile.

"Alright Yusuke, we'll do this your way then."

Another bang on the table was heard, all heads in the bar turning their way and turning back scared by the gloomy aura settled at the table as a new question and answer came to life.

"So" Kazuma began "Hiei did this, but why isn't he here now?"

They could see Kurama's gears grinding trying to pick the perfect words in order to relate the information.

"Hiei wishes to no longer see us or know anything about Valery's fate."

Kurama had to lift up his hands trying to silence the loud pair that started a tornado of swears.

"Please, we need to be civil, this is a public place."

"I will be civil with my foot up his ass."

A glare hushed Yusuke up entirely as well as Kurama as Kazuma took the scene.

"What if it were you in her place, or Yusuke, or Keiko? How can we be civil when our friend is Hell knows where?"

But Kurama already knew that. He knew the second he asked them over that he couldn't do it alone anymore. Not with Koenma trying to cover something up, not with Hiei refusing to speak with him. He needed to work together with everyone in trying to discover the truth.


	3. Forget

**Hello lovely people.**

**In this short story we get a glimpse inside Valery's last moments and what Hiei stole from her.**

* * *

That voice, she knew the voice swimming in her mind, chanting in her brain words like a constant chilling mantra.

"You will forget me breaking you apart."

What had he done?

Her body was cold feeling close to the point of freezing and her lids felt so heavy as her brain was being rearranged, torn apart and put back together in a ruthless painful torment.

"You will forget Kurama's advances and the words spoken to you."

Emerald eyes flashed through her mind, his lips moving but she couldn't understand the words.

As a new part of her brain felt like it imploded fear rushed in her core, burning through her senses as her lids slowly opened, straining to focus a certain imagine in front of her eyes.

"Hurry, she's waking up."

"I'm working as fast as I can."

It was as if time stopped when their eyes met, realization sinking all at once, hurting, destroying and shattering completely all hope that was still there. In front of her eyes, with his Jagan glowing bright stood her husband, her better half, the man she vowed to love until the end of time just ripping apart her memories, altering her beliefs and vision.

"No!" her voice came out strained as her eyes travelled to the king of Spirit World, his giant hands straining to keep her energy at bay "No!"

"You will forget waking up and seeing this."

"No!"

She couldn't get out more as a new portion of her memories started to shatter to pieces. She knew exactly what was happening, she was being forced into a decision that was not her own, did not want, did not approve of.

"I will not regress, you can't do this to me you bastard."

She couldn't care less about king Enma as her eyes turned hallow, dark powers being summoned from all sane corners she still had and were not tampered with. He betrayed her.

"Hiei, I can't contain her any more, it's now or never."

His eyes never left her face, not one second did he look away, burning the memory of that moment in his brain. He didn't blink as she struggled, he didn't move.

"Valery" the name left a bitter taste on his tongue and it was then he decided it would be the last time he would ever use it "Forget"

"I'll destroy you."

Until the last breath she took in that world and all was left was just the memory of her, he didn't look away.

"It's better this way."

He didn't look at Enma or else the next thing he would have done was put a sword through him. He knew why he wanted her gone for good, he knew every damn reason why Koenma learned about regression in the first place. Enma wanted her gone the second her power came to light and he had just succeed. The only thought that made Hiei still hold his ground was that she would live and would do so how she wanted to, away from Demons.


	4. Formal meeting

"Oh shit, I'm late, Kurama's going to kill me."

Yusuke ran though the apartment, scrambling to pick up the items needed, searching for his keys that from his point of view sprung legs overnight and decided to ditch him. With his left hand he was desperately trying to pull a pair of pants on without tripping and landing on his face. His right hand was frantically holding a brush trying to brush his teeth without getting tooth paste all over the carpet in his room.

They had finally managed to secure a meeting with Koenma on the 10th of June and he was already 10 minutes late, cursing in his head for being such a slob while jumping on one leg as his pants only managed to get pulled up just one leg.

"Fuck."

The keys were eventually discovered in the keyhole, where they always were for that matter, but for some reason that morning he decided he needed to check in all other various placed but the usual.

On the way to Kurama's apartment someone fell in line with him and wouldn't you know it that person was also late. Kazuma did not sleep in but got engrossed in an essay thus loosing track of time.

"He won't be too happy about this."

A simple nod from Yusuke was provided before they both picked up the pace, excusing themselves as they made their way down the busy streets.

* * *

Almost an hour late and just as they suspected, Koenma did not wait for them to arrive. Leading the boys inside the apartment and to the living room, Kurama said nothing as his two friends apologised for leaving him alone.

"So tell us, what exactly happened?"

His eyes snapped to the two companions that immediately sat on the couch and shut their mouths with a loud clank. Kurama was mad and they have seen him like that only a handful of times. Clearing his throat indicated he was ready to start talking.

"I'll tell you that the meeting was short, Koenma came prepared to tell us some things, but not answer questions." Taking a deep breath he tried to relax his posture and the muscles in his face "Hiei and Valery were informed about an option called regression. In short for all of us, there are multiple versions in parallel universes if you wish and she has a human counterpart to which she could regress that knows all about us, however I don't know how that came to be." His eyes squinted more as the tightness in his jaw became painful "Apologies, where are my manners? Do you want some coffee?"

Yusuke snapped to him feet the second Kurama offered them coffee.

"Screw that, tell us what he said."

"Very well" yet he still went inside the kitchen focusing his attention on his hands as they worked to get everything in place "We can't interact with her unless she is asleep and dreams, that's the only common ground."

Kazuma got up blinking at Kurama as if he had just said the most insane thing ever and in truth it did sound like that.

"Until recently she's been in a transition state where she was neither person. Now Valery is no longer, her soul merged in her human counterpart."

Kurama looked at his friend to see them both fuming however Yusuke was the first to speak.

"I'll knock that toddler into puberty!"

He would have laughed at that remark, but that was not the time for jokes.

"Hiei made the deal with King Enma, who is king no more. It was the only way to stop the wrath of the Gods. Enma confessed and told them what he had done and agreed to step down."

Yusuke scratched his head furiously as his brain tried to wrap around the madness.

"So how do we speak to her?"

A heavy sigh escaped Kurama's chest as he took some time to answer that question.

"Koenma is willing to try and grant us one meeting but I need to warn you about something. Hiei erased some of her memories so we can expect for her not to even know who we are."

Kazuma came close to Kurama and opened the lid on the coffee can that Kurama had been trying to open backwards for the last couple of minutes.

"Valery is stronger than this, there is no way she went down without a fight. Did that runt wipe away all her memories?"

Kurama's eyes shun away from his friends as Kazuma took on the task of finishing making coffee while Yusuke light up a cigarette to which Kurama didn't even bat an eye to.

"He erased the parts he needed to, of the hurt he caused her, me and the moment of her regression."

Yusuke chocked, bashing a fist to his chest multiple times trying to calm down.

"Back up there! Why were you in the equation?"

"Because Kurama has feelings for Valery and he must have told her." Kazuma rose his eyes to a very perplex Yusuke and Kurama "I noticed, you look at her like I look at Yukina and Yusuke at Keiko, doesn't take a genius to figure it out."

"Hey!"

"Shut it Urameshi!" pushing two cups in their direction Kazuma smile to Kurama "Let's agree to the meeting. And we're bringing shorty along even if we have to tie him up. If Valery is still out there somehow she will have a reaction to one of us."

"Then I'll set up the details with Koenma, you try and convince Hiei."


	5. Meet me in your dreams

**Hello lovely people. In this short story we seen a meeting being arranged by Koenma for the boys with Valery after a few months of no contact. All is from Kurama's POV.**

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We did not expect to pull through that day on the 17th, me more than the rest. I have tried to keep a levelled head and tell myself that there was no possible plausible explanation for multiple people to meet via a dream. A dream that Spirit World had to force inside her head as well as ours, during the day when she was probably doing anything else apart from sleeping. It was just wishful thinking, it had to be or so I was telling myself. I was willing to say anything in order to not be disappointed at the end of the day when the plan would fall astray.

The location of the meeting was odd, we were suddenly inside a small and very well light room that was located on a dock for small boats. Outside the water stretched to infinity and then probably beyond given the image projected by the dream, all of it inside her own mind. Behind the docks a busy street with speedy cars running inside a tunnel created the only distant noise that was perceptible, but not bothersome given the distance.

My hands gripped the ledge's steel bar as the waiting dragged on and on, making me run so many possibilities though my head all while the plan forged was trying to leave my memory. We would say nothing, we would let her reach out, let her take the first step and Hiei would come in last. The trump card. In the end it wasn't Yusuke or Kazuma that convinced him to meet with her, it was Koenma with whom he needed to work together with if he wanted passage to Human World for him or any other demons. He was the one who brought the fury of the Gods, he had to make amends.

The shift in the air was sudden, colours coming into focus brighter than before, the steel feeling cold under my palms. As I turned I shuddered seeing red hair running down the street, closing in to the docks. I had to hide out of view to see her stop in front of a small barrier that could be crossed with ease however she stopped in front of it and watched the horizon contemplating on something.

She would come inside, I knew it then that the dream shifted with her presence. Going back inside the room, Yusuke and Kazuma were brought up to speed so we waited, the perception of time being altered despite my need of knowing how much I was going to sit staring at a door waiting for it to open.

But when it did, we all stopped, my breath lodged in my chest as she entered and watched us with wide eyes filled with curiosity. She moved slowly like a cat on the prowl, blinking rarely, body tense. Her eyes fell on each and every one of us, no exception. Yusuke and Kazuma didn't look her way as they mostly stared at the ground. But it was a good thing, their eyes would have betrayed something and we have decided after all to let her have the first move.

I was the last she looked at, more curiosity springing to life as I was the only one who did look her in the eye. But how could I not? I needed to know she was alright, unharmed. I had to know if she recognised me or if Hiei erased from her mind all the memories and years like they were nothing to begin with. Questions swam in those wide doll like eyes as she was reading the mood, slowly taking a seat on a chair overlooking us.

And that's when Hiei stepped in without making a sound. I only looked at him for a split second, but it was enough to register the glare burning right through me. Shifting my eyes back to Valery I noted her expression change.

From surprise.

To hope.

To realisation.

To pain as her eyes shut tight.

In a few seconds since Hiei had entered the room she went through a multitude of feelings then bolted outside, Yusuke yelling after her.

"Hey, this involves you too!"

The reply came back fast and agitated.

"I don't belong here."

The colours reverted back to their original state as I pushed my hands inside my pockets. Kazuma was already in Hiei's face, fighting with him over the encounter. Yusuke cursed out also redirecting his anger towards Hiei.

"There's no need for that. The reason for this encounter was to see if she recognises us, which she does." they all stopped staring at me, like always waiting for me to relate the important piece of information "especially you Hiei." It left a bitter taste in my mouth saying that.

"The more reason why this meeting should have never occurred in the first place. I have now humoured your small minds and I have no intention of doing it again."

I have gotten the reactions I needed. All of them, including mine.


End file.
